Collect and Readings for The Third Sunday before Lent – Isaiah 58.1-12, Psalm 112, 1 Corinthians 2.1-12, Matthew 5.13-20
The Prayer for today
Almighty God, who alone can bring order to the unruly wills and passions of sinful humanity:
give your people grace so to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, among the
many changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Salt and light can both make a great difference. Apart from its wonderful preserving and disinfecting qualities, a pinch of alt brings out the full flavour of other ingredients; light allows everyone in the room to see the shape and texture of all kinds of different objects which were hidden in darkness. And we as Christians are called to be salt and light to the world. We are called to live so that our way of living brings out in other people their full flavour, or potential; we are called to live in such a way that helps people see here they are going, in the room, or context, of eternity.
We have all met people whose attitude and behaviour towards us makes us shrivel up inside, and others in whose company we feel accepted and acceptable, and therefore free to be our true selves. It is reverence for one another that makes the difference, and the Gospels are full of incidents where people noticed this in their encounters with Jesus.
If we behave as the salt of the earth, we will be content to make ourselves available so that others feel free to become more truly themselves, and we shall recognise the need to be there, but not to overwhelm! Too heavy a dose of salt kills off the flavour. If we behave as the light of the world we shall once again be in the role of enablers: we are at the service of the world, quietly enabling it to see more clearly. And again, we recognise the need to provide illumination, but not to blind or dazzle. Dazzling performances of ostentatious ‘religion’, such as those we heard about in the Isaiah reading, are not at all what God had in mind for his people, either then or now. What God wants is for the people in our world to be so impressed with the light we shine round that they want to find out where we get it from. Our shining is to set others off on their way to discover God for themselves.
Of course, we can only behave as salt and light if we are the genuine article, and are prepared to work co-operatively with God. That is where it is so helpful to have our faith ‘earthed ‘in practical living. As Christians we all need to have our feet on the ground; we need to be engaged in the messy, hard work of caring, challenging injustice and offering practical help and support. Only then will our praises mean something, and our worship glorify God.
Some things to reflect on:
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· What do the qualities and usefulness of salt and light tell us about our calling as Christians?
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· What are the values (and dangers) of fasting, and how can we ensure it is Godly fasting?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for Second Sunday of Epiphany – Isaiah 49.1-7, Psalm 40.1-12, 1 Corinthians 1.1-9, John 1.29 -42
The Prayer for today
Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new: transform the poverty of our nature by
the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
This week, as we continue to think of Christ being shown, or revealed, to the world, there is another of the ‘servant’ readings from Isaiah. Set apart before birth, the servant has been brought into being to gather up Israel and bring her back into a right relationship with God, not through a dynamically successful campaign which the world might recognise and expect, but actually through worldly foolishness – failure, suffering and rejection.
Not only that, but as the plan unfolds it spills out of its original boundaries to include the possibility of salvation for the entire world. Gradually the prophet is starting to understand the scale of God’s intended action.
We pick up the echoes of the Gospel pictures of Jesus in the reading from Isaiah: the pre-natal cherishing, the light for the world, the redeemer, the homage paid by kings and important people. They are echoes that the people of Israel would have noticed, and they reveal Jesus as the One who fulfils the Old Testament writings in a most remarkable way.
John wants to tell everyone about it. It says a lot about John that he is able to direct his own disciples to Jesus. Probably with hindsight, the Gospel writer has John describing Jesus as God’s Passover Lamb’. With all the significance of sacrifice and the way to freedom which that suggests. Though he had been preparing them for this, it could still have been a moment to indulge the human instinct to be possessive, critical, and defensive, yet in John we rather sense excitement and great enthusiasm.
In John’s Gospel the emphasis is not so much on Jesus going out to find his disciples as them going to find him, and bringing one another along. We are aware of the attraction of this itinerant teacher and holy man, with his remarkable gift of discernment and wisdom. Can this really be the promised and long-awaited Messiah? It will really only be time spent in Jesus’ company that will enable these followers to decide about the truth of Jesus’ identity.
And as Paul writes in his letter to the church in Corinth, the same is true for all those who seek Jesus, whatever time or place they live in. As we spend time in Jesus’ company we will find that it shows, and then others, spending time with us, may recognise the truth that Christ is living in us.
Some things to reflect on:
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· What can we learn about evangelising from today’s Gospel?
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· How does John’s way of narrating Jesus’ Baptism differ from Matthew’s? What do both accounts agree about?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus – Numbers 6.22-end, Psalm 8, Galatians 4.4-7, Luke 2.15-21
The Prayer for today
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was circumcised in obedience to the law for our sake and given the Name that is above every name: give us grace faithfully to bear his Name, to worship him in the freedom of the Spirit, and to proclaim him as the Saviour of the world; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The new year has dawned. Last night, and over the coming days, we will wish each other a Happy New Year. But what will we mean when we offer that greeting to one another?
In classical Greek, the word for ‘happiness’ is makários. But this word, which we also encounter in The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12), can be translated in other ways. Makários does mean ‘happiness’, but it can also mean ‘blessed’, ‘fortunate’ and ‘happier’. When we wish each other a Happy New Year, we need to reflect upon what we really mean. Are we simply exchanging a traditional pleasantry, or are we praying for something more?
In today’s reading, on this feast of the Naming and Circumcision of Jesus, we read of happiness. We read of the happiness of the safe delivery of Mary’s son; the happiness of the shepherds as they found all as it had been told them by the angels; the happiness which bubbled over into glorifying and praising God; the happiness of bringing Jesus to his circumcision and naming. There is a great deal of makários in today’s reading, and not just in the sense of ‘happiness’.
Mary and Joseph’s happiness, like that of the shepherds, can also be counted as blessedness and good fortune. Despite the challenging and humble circumstances of his miraculous birth, Jesus’ coming into the world has brought a level of happiness, blessedness and good fortune that far exceeds our feeble attempts at defining such words. It also shows what we should be wishing upon each other at this turning point of another year. Let us pray that all whom we wish a Happy New Year might know the happiness of a real relationship with the Christ who came to bring redemption for us all.
Let us pray that the whole world might be blessed with the peace, love and light of Christ as we embark upon a new year. Let us pray that our faith might be shown in the happiness and blessedness that shines through our words and actions in the year that lies ahead.
Some things to reflect on:
• What are we really saying when we wish people a Happy New Year?
• How can our faith in Christ make a real difference to us and those we meet in 2023?
God bless and I wish you a blessed and Happy New Year and one in which you will find the hope an joy that Jesus Christ can bring.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for Epiphany – Isaiah 60.1-6, Psalm 72.1-15, Ephesians 3.1-12,
Matthew 2.1-12
The Prayer for today
O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth:
mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at last behold your glory face
to face; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the
unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Beginning with one person (Abraham) and developing to embrace one family and
eventually one nation, God has painstakingly planted the seed of salvation and nurtured it
until the whole earth is involved. Isaiah had sensed that day in terms of a sunrise dawning
with the light of day on a world of darkness, with all the hope and joy and relief that a new
day can bring after a long, dark night.
Probably this was one of the prophecies these magi had read as they studied the signs of
the sky and wondered about life’s meaning. And perhaps it was then that they felt stirring
in them a profound calling to be, in person, those visitors who could symbolise the light
dawning in the wider world. Certainly, they must have been inspired by a powerful sense of
urgency and necessity to make such a journey. And as they travelled, both physically and
spiritually, towards Bethlehem, bearing the gifts laid down in those ancient scriptures,
perhaps they were drawn by much more than a star. Jesus later proclaimed that anyone
who sets out to search always finds.
Paul also knows himself to be commissioned to explain God’s nature to the Gentiles. He is
overwhelmed by the extraordinary way that the Christ has enabled us to approach the
great and awesome God with freedom and confidence - as one of the family. And for all of
us who are Gentiles, the feast of the Epiphany is particularly one to celebrate, since it marks
the truth that we too are part of God’s salvation and can share the light of dawn.
Some things to reflect on:
· Why did Herod find the prophesied birth threatening, while the magi were excited
enough to travel many miles to see this child?
· The Celtic Christians were very aware that the journey is, in a way, the destination.
How is this true?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for The Third Sunday before Advent – Job 19.23-27a, 15-18, Psalm 17.1-9,
2 Thessalonians 2.1-5,13-end, Luke 20.27-38
The Prayer for today
Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts
and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the
ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
When you have a favourite author, it is disappointing to get to the end of the last available novel that they have written; a friend of mine, with considerable enforced reading time, felt quite lost after the Cadfael books ran out. I have been known to read books several times in quite quick succession because I couldn’t bear to come to the end of the story.
When we set off on the journey of discovery into friendship with God, there is no problem of getting to the end of him or having to break our relationship with him simply because our physical body has stopped working. We can carry on enjoying his friendship, and an ever-deepening understanding of his nature throughout the whole of eternity. There is no end to God, and, through the redeeming work of Christ, there need be no end to us either, so we can look forward to life beyond death and enjoy the prospect of living in God’s company for ever.
The Sadducees had decided that the idea of resurrection wasn’t workable and therefore couldn’t be true. As so often happens, they were judging God’s ways by human limitations. They worked out this complicated problem to make Jesus realise how silly it is to think there can be life after death. Faced with this conundrum he will surely have to admit that they are sensible and right in their belief.
What Jesus does is to show them that they are asking the wrong question. Resurrection life is not a tangled continuation of the earthly order of things, but a new and different experience, just as real but with whole new dimensions of possibility.
It is rather like arguing that caterpillars couldn’t possibly fly. In their present state and with their present limitations it is indeed impossible, but the freshly emerging butterfly proves that flying is a perfectly natural progression from leaf munching. Few of us w would ever guess that a caterpillar could turn into a butterfly, and similarly we have little exact idea of what our resurrection life will be like. What we do know is that it will be fulfilling and rewarding, full of joy, peace and love.
In the meantime, we are to stand firm and stick to the teachings we have been handed down faithfully through the generations in an unbroken line which can be traced back to Christ himself. That will enable us to discern the false rumours from the truth, and we will be ready to enter the glorious heritage of resurrection life in heaven.
Some things to reflect on:
· Why do you think many who would call themselves Christians find it difficult to accept the reality of life after death?
· Think of any remembered references in the Bible that point to life after death being a reality and look up some others using a concordance. Using these, how would you help someone to understand more about heaven?
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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